


Mother Dearest

by NerdyNobody



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:33:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25373950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyNobody/pseuds/NerdyNobody





	Mother Dearest

It had been so long since Heathcliff had been at this mansion. It had changed in those years. He expected it to, since they frequently checked in and always saw that Ivy had never even bothered to give it a fresh coat of paint. Said paint was chipping off, the grass and bush and flowers were overgrown, not having been trimmed in at least a year. It caused his heart to ache, knowing how she used to always take care of things so well. When he knocked at the door, it almost seemed to echo. He wasn't sure wether it was his imagination or not. No answer came. He knocked again. Yet again no answer. The now man took a single deep breath, trying the door, and surprised to find it open. Gingerly, almost fearfully, he stepped in. "I-Ivy?" He called out. Silence met him. It felt disturbing.

He remembered how alive the place felt before. It was only one person, yet Ivy seemed to bring a sunshine and liveliness into her area wherever she went. He admired that. But now......it felt empty. It felt so cold. It just was like it was......dead. It seeped in and penetrated his mind like an intrusive thought, and he felt guilt rise in his chest knowing full well why this was how it was. But he was here now, and he just.....he just needed to see her again. The others didn't have the heart to. He almost regretted calling them cowards when they refused to go with him to see her. Hypocritical, considering he had done the same for years. 

Closing the door gently behind him, he walked slowly down the hall. Looking around, he noted the layer of dust on things where there used to be none. He had to tear his eyes away from a framed picture on a little table with the young MISFITS and Ivy. But the smiles seemed hollow, and half hearted. Jackson wasn't even bothering to smile in the picture, staring into the camera with a neutral, but gloomy look on his face. It was both better and worse than the current Jackson 1's murderous eyes. Ivy's smile was filled with nothing short of agony. He continued. 

Finally, he arrived at the living room, where so many games and happy memories had taken place, and there she was, upon the couch. What immediately struck him was the greying of her hair. Before it had been black as a crow's plumage, but now he could see quite obvious streaks of grey within it. She wasn't even wearing her once signature sweater anymore. He was wordless for a moment as he ever so slowly walked around to see her face, seeing she was looking down and nursing a mug of tea that had long gone cold. Shockingly, he didn't need to speak first. 

"You know.......it's bitter in the end, really." She said softly, never once looking at him as he came to sit on the other end of the couch, biting his lip and so suddenly lost for words. It had been years and yet suddenly he felt like a kid again getting the "I'm not angry, just disappointed" look from Ivy after he swiped all the letters off the scrabble board because Jackson kept beating them all.

"I know." He finally answered.

"This was the way it was always going to be, wasn't it? No matter what, this is what was going to happen. No matter if either of you win or lost or even made a truce, in the end it would always just come off.......bitter. With more people hurt in than could ever be repaired. With more people banding together to fight and destroy and hurt to get their way again or get back some kind of pride or get revenge, and continuing the cycle over and over again. More and more bodies and more and more hate that will only be passed on. And even if it ends, who's to say the next generation won't start it again?" She said softly. Heathcliff would've thought it more poetic if it didn't crack his heart more and more.

"I.....I guess it was. But we couldn't leave it as is. We made mistakes, but what's done is done. You......you don't have to sit here and wallow in it, you know." He said gently. Ivy didn't even have the energy to chuckle, though distantly she would have wanted to. 

"I'm far past that, sweetheart. This is all I have left. The children are gone, my job is done, the universe is under new rein. I left the hope of moving on long in the past." The woman told him. Heathcliff flinched, hands balling up on his pants. Sweetheart was such a familiar nickname. Though he suspected it was more out of habit than her coddling him once again. He would be right. 

"But it doesn't have to be left. I could always visit? Maybe you could come and live in the base with us? You just seem so.....miserable." He said. Once again, Ivy couldn't muster any sound of amusement. She lost that too a while back.

"Because I am miserable." She told him quite bluntly. "Please don't tell me lies. Both you and I know that your Ruby wouldn't approve, and that after this, you won't ever be coming back."

Heathcliff couldn't find the strength to retort that statement. Ivy sighed, possibly the most she had shown that whole time.

"Leave."

"Huh?"

"Please, just go. If you're looking for a happy conclusion to something in your past, you won't find it here. The past is dead and gone, Heathcliff. You, and I suspect the others, have been dragging it out." Ivy told him. Heathcliff's breath caught for a second.

"But I can't leave you like this!" He said.

"You already did." The way she said that, empty eyes still staring into her half full mug of tea, was scary. And it hurt. Yet he knew it was right. He felt selfish wishing she lied about it.

"I'm sorry. It's just....there's so much that I want to give you....that I want to patch. I want you to be happy! I want to fix this! I want to go back!!! It's......it's not fair...." Heathcliff said softly.

"I know. I don't blame you, honey. But I'm tired. I can see your tired too, of holding this up. Of dwelling in the past. I can't say this won't be with you forever. That's how things go sometimes. But I hope not. But please.....let the old dog lie. Leave it behind, and hope it doesn't catch up to you. So please, leave. Before you make this more painful for us both." She said, voice still soft like a dying breath. Tears welled in the man's eyes as his nails practically dug holes in his palms. His mind screamed COWARD at him for getting up and making his way back to the door. He didn't accomplish what he set out to do. All he did was reopen old wounds and see how truly useless it all was. 

He didn't know why they were surprised when they checked in the next week, and saw Ivy swinging from the banister.


End file.
